Ukraine Vs. Sweden, Euro 2012: Halftime Score, Chances But No Goals

Ukraine and Sweden have produced a highly entertaining 45 minutes of football in Kiev, but it hasn’t resulted in any goals yet. Some blocked shots, some good goalkeeping and some bad luck for attacking players have all combined to keep the score 0-0 at halftime.

Sweden have the more accomplished technical players in midfield, but they haven’t been able to translate that to possession. Ukraine look like they’ve been seriously boosted by their home fans, and they’ve surprisingly had much more of the ball than their opponents. They created a couple of very good opportunities late in the half, with Andreas Isaksson coming up with a big save on Andriy Voronin and Andreas Granqvist making a huge block on an Andriy Shevchenko shot.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been Sweden’s most influential player, but he’ll be kicking himself for failing to capitalize on the best chance of the first half. In the 39th minute, he was uncontested at the back post as he rose up to head a cross by Rasmus Elm towards the back post. It appeared that he would score easily, but his header bounced off the upright.

It hasn’t been a terrible performance from Sweden, but Erik Hamren won’t be terribly pleased with his team’s lack of possession. Additionally, striker Markus Rosenberg has been mostly useless. The good news is that he has plenty of bench options. Johan Elmander could offer something up front, while Pontus Wernbloom and Anders Svensson are available to solidify his midfield.

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